


Family Hour

by Bellovesus



Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-08-16 21:38:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16503167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellovesus/pseuds/Bellovesus
Summary: Reed Strucker's off-hours as a lawyer fifteen years earlier. Non-action. Domestic scene. One shot story.





	1. Chapter 1

Reed had been prosecutor for the Atlanta District Attorney's Mutant Taskforce for the last six months. He did not so much relish the duty of prosecuting delinquent mutants, but he cared about dealing them fairly like they were any other citizens of their country. Reed never cut corners when building his case against the accused, and accepted defeat gracefully if the accused was found innocent of the charges. He believed in the system and never sort to exploit it to advance his career as an attorney.

Reed parked outside his suburban home one afternoon. He was lucky to get off from work early today. Reed had become a father for the second time less than a week ago. His boss, despite congratulating the young attorney, needed him to pursue several cases. Reed had put them at the back of his mind. He did not want to cloud his thoughts during his time at home. Reed did what he had to protect his family, and the community, from some potentially very dangerous people. Given the horrific nature of some of these crimes, which deeply disturbed Reed himself, he was willing to protect his young family from even himself if need be.

Caitlin was resting on the couch, cradling their infant son, who they named Andrew. Their firstborn Lauren, a cute little blonde girl aged two years old, was watching Dora the Explorer.

Little Lauren's eyes lit up at the sight of her father entering the living room. "Daaddy!" The child squealed excitedly. A grinning Reed picked swept his daughter off her feet and kissed her. Caitlin rose from the couch, holding their youngest and fell into Reed's embrace.

"Did anything exciting happen without me?" Reed asked with a warm smile.

Caitlin shrugged. "Lauren danced around for a good bit before tiring herself out. Little busy-body." She glanced down at her baby. "He hasn't eaten since breakfast. Just slept through most of the day."

Reed leaned in to kiss his baby son. "I missed a lot today, huh?" It was then that Andrew's eyes opened to gaze up at his father. Lauren tentatively place her tiny hand on her new little brother's face. "Yandy! My Yandy!" The girl declared with all the authority of a two year old little madam. As yet, she could not pronounce "Andy".

Caitlin's pregnancy with her second child was mired in misfortune. First, Caitlin and Reed were told by a pathologist that there was a danger that the pregnancy may result in Spontaneous Hepatic Rupture, endangering both mother and child. There was also the mysterious situation of the earthquake at the hospital which happened when Caitlin was in labour. Speculation was rife that the quake was brought on by mutant powers, but no culprit was identified. But despite that and the damning prognosis, Caitlin defied the odds and gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy who was the pride and joy to his parents, like his sister before him. 

"My Yandy!" Lauren said again as she ran her hand across his face.

Reed chuckled indulgently. "Well, I got some food on the way back, so we'll get dinner started. While you, Little Miss, are in charge of your brother. Okay?" Lauren nodded her head eagerly.

Caitlin laid Andy in the baby rocker while she and Reed went to the kitchen to prepare dinner together. Lauren, still thrilled with having a little brother, stood over the rocker. She gazed at Andy's eyes. They were large, old and wise-looking eyes in a tiny, red face. Lauren smiled down at her baby brother, fussing over him like he was one of her dolls. The girl took Andy's tiny hand in hers. 

Lauren's eyes were then mesmerised by a small, glowing light which pulsated between their clasped hands. Little Andy gazed up at his sister. Their perspectives shifted, Lauren saw herself through Andy's eyes and vice versa. 

The warm glow started to grow between the young siblings until Caitlin appeared to check on her children. "Sweetie?"

Lauren let go of Andy's hand to gaze back at her mother. "Hey sweetie, let your brother sleep, okay?" She gently asked her daughter.

Lauren gazed back between her mother and Andy before the intro of Barney the Dinosaur appeared on the TV screen. "Yay, Barney!" Lauren yelped excitedly before kneeling on the floor to watch the spectacle.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Due to feedback, I've decided to upgrade this from a one-shot story to a series. Based on the private lives of the Strucker family in the years leading to the events of the series.

Little Lauren giggled as Caitlin blew bubbles in her direction. The golden-haired two year old, clad in a pink T-shirt and denim dungarees, bouncing up and down on her bare feet, swatting the bubbles as they floated down to her.

"Again, Mommy!" Lauren squealed happily. Caitlin, dressed in tan pants and a white blouse, grinned at her daughter. "Okay, but I'm nearly out of liquid, sweetie."

Beside Caitlin in a baby rocker lay Andy, now a month old, wearing a white and blue onesie, staring wide-eyed at the bubbles. His mother playfully blew a big, wobbly bubble above her youngest child. Little Andy was mesmerised by it. But Lauren, standing above her baby-brother, leapt up and snapped her hands around the bubble, bursting it. 

The baby gave out a little grunt which sounded acutely like irritation to his mother's ears. She blew out yet another bubble like the one before. She placed her fingers on Lauren's shoulder. "Sweetie, let him have this one!" 

Andy reached out to catch the bubble, but it fell short of his grasp and landed on his leg before bursting. "Unh-nagh-gh!" Andy gurgled as he flapped his little hands.

Caitlin put down the bubble mix on the table and lifted her son from the rocker. "You're always so grumpy, aren't ya?!" Caitlin complained in a playful, high-pitched tone. Andy gurgled another reproachful-sounding response to that, which made Caitlin giggle. "Ain't you charming." She said in a playfully sarcastic way.

Lauren climbed on to the couch next to her mother. "Yandy talk yet, Mommy?" The little girl asked eagerly. 

Caitlin smiled awkwardly. "He's not exactly talking yet, though he does have a lot on his mind."

Lauren, standing the couch now, leaned on her mother and caressed her brother's face. "When Yandy grow, Mommy?" Lauren asked in a longing voice. "I wanna play!"

Caitlin wrapped an arm around her daughter. "We've only had your brother for a month, sweetheart. It will be a while before he's taking steps."

Lauren leaned down to place a kiss on her brother. Andy returned it with a sloppy, salivating kiss on her cheek. "Urgh, Yandy!" Lauren protested, then started laughing. 

Smiling, Caitlin grabbed some Kleenex from a nearby box. "Messy little boy!" She stated in the same squeaky voice as she wiped her son's face. 

Andy clutched at his mother's face with tiny fingers. "Ah-yaaa nrgg!" The baby boy gurgled tetchily.

"And the same to you, baby!" A smiling Caitlin replied with mock sternness.

A knock sounded at the front door. Caitlin lowered Andy on to the rocker, headed through the hallway and padded barefoot to the door. There, she was greeted by very tall, dark-haired, forty-something year old woman wearing thick-rimmed glasses, a sports jersey and jeans. The smiling woman had a bunch of leaflets in her hands. 

Hi there, ma'am. I'm with the Atlanta chapter of the Church of Human Potential, and we're canvassing around the neighbourhood for people to join our flock-"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Caitlin politely interrupted the older woman, "but we're not really into that. Thank you, though." She tried to close the door, but the canvasser placed her hand upon the door and her foot inside the house to block it from closing.

"Pardon me," Caitlin said in shocked protest, "but what do you think you're doing?!" 

The canvasser's smile vanished to be replaced by a gaze of cold derision. "Our world is threatened by those people," she stated icily. "And you're 'not into that', huh?"

"I don't know who you think you are," Caitlin countered her, "but you have no right to step inside my home and..." She tried to push the canvasser out of the front door, but the woman was taller and more strongly built than the slender Caitlin, who she shoved backward on to the floor.

"Mommy?" Caitlin looked around to see little Lauren standing in the hallway, sucking on her thumb and gazing fearfully at the two women.

"Honey, be a good girl and go back into the living room, okay?" Caitlin told her daughter while trying not to betray any distress in front of her.

The Canvasser smiled thinly. "Perhaps your children are muties?" She mused. "Maybe I'll tell everyone that. Unless -" She dropped a leaflet onto the trembling Caitlin's hands. "Unless you attend our church meetings at those dates?"

"Get out of my house!" Caitlin snapped furiously. The canvasser gave another smug smile and casually walked around the younger woman to enter the living room, where Lauren had fled to. 

The canvasser leered when she saw little Lauren kneel next to her brother. "The Devil is in this house," the canvasser murmured with a deranged look in her eyes.

Alarmed, Caitlin had rushed into the garage, burst into one of the cupboards, and found her gun.

She ran into the living room to find the canvasser standing over her babies. Lauren and Andy were both crying. 

"Spawn of Satan!" The woman hissed. 

Caitlin clicked the hammer, getting the canvasser's attention. She was holding the gun in both hands, as her own father had taught her as a child. "Get away from my children," she told her in a voice which was raw with rage. "And get the fuck out of my house!"

Suddenly, the canvasser was putting up her hands in a placating gesture. "Okay, ma'am," she told Caitlin as she effected a plastic smile. "There's no need to be violent-"

"GET OUT!"

The woman then fled the living room and hotfooted it through the front door. Caitlin had followed her and slammed it shut behind the canvasser. She then ran back to her children and lay the gun on the coffee table. She knelt on the floor over Lauren and Andy and picked them both up. She soothed them.

"Okay, I'm here! Momma's here." She whispered to a bawling Lauren. Andy was clasped close to Caitlin's breast. It shamed her to have left her little children alone with that crazy bitch for even ten seconds.

Putting her children down, Caitlin grabbed the house phone to alert Atlanta PD of the incident


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caitlin and Reed take the kids Christmas shopping, then a movie.

It was the beginning of the Christmas holidays. The actual Christmas shopping was done months ahead of time, but both Reed and Caitlin Strucker had saved their vacation days, and wanted to go to the mall like they used to.

Snow thickly blanketed the ground outside, so the family were dressed warmly for the excursion. Little Andy was bundled up in a soft, woollen blanket which his grandmother Ellen, Reed's mother, had bought for Caitlin's baby shower months ago. 

They parked outside the mall before Reed pulled out the double stroller for their children. Lauren was excited for the trip, remembering her previous visits to the mall. 

Andy, who had been asleep during the ride to the mall, woke up as his mother Caitlin lifted him out of the car to the pushchair. The boy wiggled his hands and feet fitfully as Caitlin strapped him in. She soothed her youngest child with a kiss.

With the young Lauren and Andy strapped into the stroller, Reed and Caitlin entered the mall. They were going to visit the food court.

"I'm so glad we finally get to do this after so long." Caitlin told Reed as he pushed the stroller in front of him.

"Absolutely," replied Reed with a sigh in his voice. He had recently been prosecuting a serial arsonist with the X gene. The boy's victims included his own family, and when he was convicted on all charges, he flew into a rage and threatened everyone; his defence counsel, the bailiffs, the jury, the judge, and of course, Reed himself for the case against him. Reed was grateful for the inhibitor collars that were mandatory for mutant defendants in the courtroom, or else the mutant boy would have incinerated everyone in his fury. But he was wasn't prepared to talk about it with Caitlin, nor in front of his children.

Caitlin was shaken by the experience of having a crazy Purifier come into her home and threatened to brand her own children as mutants. She had suffered nightmares for days after the incident. The woman, named Beatrice Bouvier, was a paranoid schizophrenic who had embraced her role in the Church of Human Potential and saw mutant malcontents everywhere. Beatrice Bouvier had been sectioned to a mental health facility after the incident at the Strucker home.

Reed and Caitlin stopped at the food court for a breakfast of coffee and bagels. Reed had Andy cuddled up in the crook of his arm. Andy reached out with little fingers at his father's nose, which made Reed chuckle softly. Caitlin smiled as she caressed the top of her son's head.

"So, where are we going first?" Reed asked his wife.

Caitlin sipped her coffee. "We'll go to Toys 'R' Us and see what they got there. After that, we could stop by Barnes and Noble's, then we can watch a kid's movie."

"Hmm," Reed grunted. "I thought there would have been more to this outing."

Caitlin shook her head. "I think we have enough clothes as it is, Reed. The last baby shower so to that."

Reed looked worried. "If this is about that woman who came to our house...."

"No," Caitlin cut him off. "Trust me, I'm over that." It's just that there's not a lot we need, really. I didn't give much thought about what we'd do before we went out."

"So, we're just gonna see here the day takes us?" Reed asked mildly.

"Pretty much it," Caitlin nodded. 

The couple looked at their children. Andy had laid his head on Reed's shoulder and fallen asleep. Lauren, still seated in the double pushchair, had too drifted into slumber.

Reed grinned. "Did we just bore those two with our chatter?"

Caitlin giggled. "We gotta remember that trick."

The family did their shopping at the toy store. Caitlin roused Lauren so they could explore the aisles. Reed carried Andy in his arms, following behind his wife.

Andy woke up and made a sleepy squeaking sound before whimpering. His father gently rocked the infant to calm him. "There-there, buddy!" Reed whispered to his son before kissing him on the brow.

Lauren found a small, white, fluffy toy dog which she petted. 

"That one?" Caitlin prompted her daughter. Lauren vigorously nodded her head. Caitlin smiled. "Okay, then!" She took Lauren's hand to lead her to the counter.

"Is Yandy getting a toy, Mommy?" Lauren asked Caitlin. 

Her mother smiled. "Santa's got your brother's gifts, sweetie."

"Does Santa have mine?" She asked Caitlin.

"You bet! Caitlin purchased the small toy dog for her firstborn. After that, the Strucker's went to Barnes and Noble's then they went to the mall's cinema.

The family purchased tickets to see Monsters, Inc. As they entered the auditorium, a pair of adolescent boys were arguing with cinema staff.

"You two have been warned about coming here," a tall, forty-something usher told the teenagers, "you need to leave now."

"Why us?" One of the boys asked indignantly. 

"Come on, guys, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" The usher replied irritably. He pointed at one of them. "You perform some unsolicited light show during the movie, despite the strobe lighting health warnings. And you.." he said more angrily at the other boy. "You keep sending electrical shocks to the other attendees. We want no more trouble, okay? So go on, get out before I call the cops."

"Screw you, asshat!" The boy with green and purple-flecked pupils, who was able to manipulate electrical currents, glared at the usher menacingly. "Just get the fuck away from us."

"I ain't getting cussed at by you, now get out!"

Reed left his wife and children to speak with the boy's. "Listen, it'll be within your interests to leave right now."

The mutant boys and the usher looked at Reed. "What the fuck's it to you, dude?!" The scrawny, dirty-blond headed youth who had the ability to produce light beams from his hands, petulantly asked of Reed.

"Because I work at the District Attorney's office," Reed told the boys in a harsh, steely voice which brooked no argument. "I'm a lawyer, and if you are using a mutant ability in such a deliberately reckless manner, then you can see a mounting load of criminal charges being sent your way. So, if you boys are smart, you'll do as you're told and leave the premises. Now!"

The insolent glares remained, but the two boys knew when they were beat. "Whatever, man!" The boy with the green and purple eyes mumbled bitterly before shuffling off with his companion. The usher thanked Reed for his intervention.

Returning to his chair next to Caitlin, Reed caught his wife's eye. He shrugged. "Sorry, Cait, but I couldn't let that escalate."

Caitlin, holding little Andy to her bosom, tentatively touched her husband's hand. "I know," she replied earnestly. Then smiled. "My hero!"

Reed blushed, patted Caitlin's hand lovingly. Then he spotted Lauren looking at him with large eyes. "It's alright, sweetheart!" Reed lifted his daughter to his knee. "Nothing to worry about."

Caitlin held Andy in her arms while Reed had Lauren. They waited for the movie to start.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Day.

Reed's mother Ellen stayed with her son for Christmas. She had been making a habit of this since Lauren was born.   
Now, in her fifties, she sat in living room holding a four month old Andy in her arms. The boy looked happier for his grandmother's company. Ellen rocked her baby grandson in her arms as she sang to him.

Lauren sat on the couch next to her grandmother. Dressed in her PJ's she held a small, fluffy stuffed dog under her arm as she gazed at the TV. She glanced at her Grandma Ellen and beamed a smile at her. The little girl bounded to her feet on the couch and leaned against her grandmother's shoulder.

Ellen glanced at Lauren. "Hey hon!" She smiled.

Lauren hugged her little arms around Ellen. "You staying, grandma?" The two-year old asked earnestly.

"You bet, sweetheart." Ellen leaned in to kiss her elder grandchild on the forehead.

Little Lauren's hand reached over to caress her brother's face. Andy's body shook with good humour in response to   
his sister's touch. Lauren grinned. 

"Yandy!" Lauren murmured fondly. Ellen kissed Lauren's hand before placing little Andy in his rocker.

Reed stepped into the living room and sat on the couch next to his mother. Lauren knelt on the floor next to Andy and playfully held the toy dog to to her brother. Andy grabbed the dog's face and put's its nose in his mouth.

"Ugh, Yandy no!" Lauren cried out. "No eat doggie."

"Well, dinner should be ready in a half hour," Reed told Ellen. 

"Casserole, I take it?" Ellen probed her son.

Reed smirked. "Like you have to ask, Mom."

She shook her head. "You should have asked me to cook for you guys." Ellen stated in mild protested.

Reed cocked an eyebrow. "You're a guest in our home. And I can cook."

It was Ellen's turn to smirk. "If you say so, honey. Although I don't remember teaching you to cook, nor see you taking home-ec back in school."

"Well Jesus, Mom, Cait's working late on Christmas Eve and I wanted to make an effort for all of us."

Ellen got up from the couch and grabbed her son by the arm. "Okay, I'm going to show you how to make a real   
casserole."

Reed sighed. "I guess dinner's gonna take a little longer, kids."

"Trust me, Reed, it'll be worth it!"

Lauren and Andy were left in the living room. The two year old dried her brother's saliva from her stuffed animal   
before leaning against him.

"Santy's coming tonight!" Lauren told Andy in a half whisper. "Daddy and Mommy said."

Andy stared at his sister with wide eyes. He jiggled his arms and legs and a smile grew on his face, almost as if he understood the import of his sister's words.

Lauren climbed to her feet, leaned down and tried to lift Andy out of the rocker. She on backward, with her brother's face buried in her chest. The two young siblings laughed. Andy, slowly and gently, rolled off of Lauren and on to the carpet. 

The baby tried to manoeuvre his upper body around, but at just four months old, Andy lacked the strength to move   
about. Lauren lay next to him and cuddled up to Andy.

"When you gonna walk, Yandy?" The girl demanded crossly, as though Andy had control over his growth.

"Gah-yah-naah! Ngghh-ooh!" Andy gabbled. He grabbed Lauren's nose, making the older girl giggle.

Reed walked into the living room to grab his cellphone. He spotted Andy on the floor. "Jesus!"

He rushed over to pick up Andy to check on him. The boy was unhurt and not in any distress. Reed turned to look at his daughter. "Lauren, what happened?"

Lauren looked a little cowed. "Yandy...walked, Daddy."

Reed sighed. His eyes bore into Lauren's. "Really? Did Andy walk?!"

Lauren awkwardly flapped her hands. "I-I want Yandy to walk!" 

Reed nodded sagely. He picked up Lauren with Andy and took both children to the kitchen. Reed placed Andy in his highchair and sat Lauren on the tabletop, looking his daughter in the eye. 

Ellen, standing near the stove and making her own last minute additions to Reed's casserole, looked on quizzically.

"Lauren, sweetie. You can't take your brother out of his rocker again. Understand?!"

Lauren wilted under her father's stern gaze. "Why don't Andy walk yet?"

"Andy will walk in his own time, honey. But I don't want you lifting him from his rocker again.   
You both could have gotten hurt."

Lauren, close to tears, nodded her head. But Reed relented and lift his daughter in an embrace.   
"Just don't do it again, sweetheart." He kissed her.

Reed turned to his mother adding the finishing touches to the evening dinner. "We gotta strap in Andy after this,"   
he told Ellen.

\--------

It was Christmas morning. Lauren was tearing her gifts open, while Caitlin, dressed in her bed robe and nightgown, sat Andy on her knee and unwrapped his gifts. Most of which clothes and stuffed toys. After looking at his toys, Andy started crying anxiously, prompting Caitlin to feed him. 

Lauren waddled up to her mother's knee. "Yandy walk yet?"

Caitlin had heard about last night's incident. She gently laid a hand on her daughter's arm. "Not for a while, sweetie!" Caitlin lost count of the number of times Lauren asked her that question.

Lauren's innocent eyes started filling up with tears. "But when, Mommy? I want Yandy to play with me!" Lauren then started weeping. Reed sat down on the couch next to his wife and picked up his crying daughter to him.

"Sweetheart," Reed told his daughter, "you were a few months older than your brother before you could crawl, so you can't just force to do it. You could have hurt Andy or yourself yesterday."

"I want to play with Yandy," sobbed Lauren. She reached for one of her baby brother's hands as he was breastfed. "I love Yandy! I wanna play".

Caitlin smiled at her daughter. "You've got years to do that, sweetheart. You both will be staying with us for a long time to go."

Reed lifted his little daughter up against his chest. "Your brother's not going to be a baby forever.But when he starts walking, you need to be a strong big sister for Andy."   
Reed wiped the tears from her daughter's eyes.

"I help Yandy walk." Lauren declared with enthusiasm in her voice.

"When he's ready to," Caitlin reminded her daughter, who vigorously nodded.

Both parents chuckled and Reed blew a raspberry into Lauren's ear, which made the child laugh. She patted her   
father on the face, and Reed kissed Lauren's palms.

Andy had fallen asleep. Reed took his son from Caitlin, who then led Lauren upstairs to dress for the day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Day.

Reed's mother Ellen stayed with her son for Christmas. She had been making a habit of this since Lauren was born.   
Now, in her fifties, she sat in living room holding a four month old Andy in her arms. The boy looked happier for   
his grandmother's company. Ellen rocked her baby grandson in her arms as she sang to him.

Lauren sat on the couch next to her grandmother. Dressed in her PJ's she held a small, fluffy stuffed dog under   
her arm as she gazed at the TV. She glanced at her Grandma Ellen and beamed a smile at her.   
The little girl bounded to her feet on the couch and leaned against her grandmother's shoulder.

Ellen glanced at Lauren. "Hey hon!" She smiled.

Lauren hugged her little arms around Ellen. "You staying, grandma?" The two-year old asked earnestly.

"You bet, sweetheart." Ellen leaned in to kiss her elder grandchild on the forehead.

Little Lauren's hand reached over to caress her brother's face. Andy's body shook with good humour in response to   
his sister's touch. Lauren grinned. 

"Yandy!" Lauren murmured fondly. Ellen kissed Lauren's hand before placing little Andy in his rocker.

Reed stepped into the living room and sat on the couch next to his mother. Lauren knelt on the floor next to   
Andy and playfully held the toy dog to to her brother. Andy grabbed the dog's face and put's nose in his mouth.

"Ugh, Yandy no!" Lauren cried out. "No eat doggie."

"Well, dinner should be ready in a half hour," Reed told Ellen. 

"Casserole, I take it?" Ellen probed her son.

Reed smirked. "Like you have to ask, Mom."

She shook her head. "You should have asked me to cook for you guys." Ellen stated in mild protested.

Reed cocked an eyebrow. "You're a guest in our home. And I can cook."

It was Ellen's turn to smirk. "If you say so, honey. Although I don't remember teaching you to cook, nor see you   
taking home-ec back in school."

"Well Jesus, Mom, Cait's working late on Christmas Eve and I wanted to make an effort for all of us."

Ellen got up from the couch and grabbed her son by the arm. "Okay, I'm going to show you how to make a real   
casserole."

Reed sighed. "I guess dinner's gonna take a little longer, kids."

"Trust me, Reed, it'll be worth it!"

Lauren and Andy were left in the living room. The two year old dried her brother's saliva from her stuffed animal   
before leaning against him.

"Santy's coming tonight!" Lauren told Andy in a half whisper. "Daddy and Mommy said."

Andy stared at his sister with wide eyes. He jiggled his arms and legs and a smile grew on his face, almost as if   
he understood the import of his sister's words.

Lauren climbed to her feet, leaned down and tried to lift Andy out of the rocker. She on backward, with her   
brother's face buried in her chest. The two young siblings laughed. Andy, slowly and gently, rolled off of Lauren,   
on to the carpet. 

The baby tried to manoeuvre his upper body around, but at just four months old, Andy lacked the strength to move   
about. Lauren lay next to him and cuddled up to Andy.

"When you gonna walk, Yandy?" The girl demanded crossly, as though Andy had control over his growth.

"Gah-yah-naah! Ngghh-ooh!" Andy gabbled. He grabbed Lauren's nose, making the older girl giggle.

Reed walked into the living room to grab his cellphone. He spotted Andy on the floor. "Jesus!"

He rushed over to pick up Andy to check on him. The boy was unhurt and not in any distress. Reed turned to look   
at his daughter. "Lauren, what happened?"

Lauren looked a little cowed. "Yandy...walked, Daddy."

Reed sighed. His eyes bore into Lauren's. "Really? Did Andy walk?!"

Lauren awkwardly flapped her hands. "I-I want Yandy to walk!" 

Reed nodded sagely. He picked up Lauren with Andy and took both children to the kitchen. Reed placed Andy in his   
highchair and sat Lauren on the tabletop, looking his daughter in the eye. 

Ellen, standing near the stove and making her own last minute additions to Reed's casserole, looked on quizzically.

"Lauren, sweetie. You can't take your brother out of his rocker again. Understand?!"

Lauren wilted under her father's stern gaze. "Why don't Andy walk yet?"

"Andy will walk in his own time, honey. But I don't want you lifting him from his rocker again.   
You both could have gotten hurt."

Lauren, close to tears, nodded her head. But Reed relented and lift his daughter in an embrace.   
"Just don't do it again, sweetheart." He kissed her.

Reed turned to his mother adding the finishing touches to the evening dinner. "We gotta strap in Andy after this,"   
he told Ellen.

\--------

It was Christmas morning. Lauren was tearing her gifts open, while Caitlin, dressed in her bed robe and nightgown,   
sat Andy on her knee and unwrapped his gifts. Most of which clothes and stuffed toys. After looking at his toys,   
Andy started crying anxiously, prompting Caitlin to feed him. 

Lauren waddled up to her mother's knee. "Yandy walk yet?"

Caitlin had heard about last night's incident. She gently laid a hand on her daughter's arm. "Not for a   
while, sweetie!" Caitlin lost count of the number of times Lauren asked her that question.

Lauren's innocent eyes started filling up with tears. "But when, Mommy? I want Yandy to play with me!"   
Lauren then started weeping. Reed sat down on the couch next to his wife and picked up his crying daughter to him.

"Sweetheart," Reed told his daughter, "you were a few months older than your brother before you could crawl,   
so you can't just force to do it. You could have hurt Andy or yourself yesterday."

"I want to play with Yandy," sobbed Lauren. She reached for one of her baby brother's hands as he was breastfed.   
"I love Yandy! I wanna play".

Caitlin smiled at her daughter. "You've got years to do that, sweetheart. You both will be staying with us for a   
long time to go."

Reed lifted his little daughter up against his chest. "Your brother's not going to be a baby forever.  
But when he starts walking, you need to be a strong big sister for Andy."   
Reed wiped the tears from her daughter's eyes.

"I help Yandy walk." Lauren declared with enthusiasm in her voice.

"When he's ready to," Caitlin reminded her daughter, who vigorously nodded.

Both parents chuckled and Reed blew a raspberry into Lauren's ear, which made the child laugh. She patted her   
father on the face, and Reed kissed Lauren's palms.

Andy had fallen asleep. Reed took his son from Caitlin, who then led Lauren upstairs to dress for the day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lauren has her third birthday party.

Caitlin was in the kitchen, making a cake for little Lauren's third birthday. She had picked out a dress for her daughter's party, arranged the invites and the presents stored away. Caitlin had prepared for this party perhaps more than she should have. Reed would have the day off from work to attend his firstborn's party. Doubtless he would have had the camcorder at the ready.

The children were in the living room, oblivious to their mother's labours in the kitchen. Lauren was furiously scribbling with a crayon in her colouring book. To her left, Andy was eagerly crawling about the living room floor. The infant lifted himself on his hands and knees and bumped into his older sister. Lauren glanced down and grinned at Andy. She picked up a soft little ball off the coffee table, held it up and skipped away from her brother. Giggling, Andy crawled towards his sister, who then knelt on the floor. Andy pulled himself on to Lauren and tried to reached for the ball.

Caitlin heard her children laughing as she entered the living room. "The cake's in the oven," she told her daughter, then smiled as she saw Andy jiggling on his knees while leaning against Lauren, who still teased him. "Oh, what's this now?" Caitlin asked with a grin.

Lauren, still keeping the ball out of reach, slumped on her side to the floor. Andy crawled over his sister for the ball. "Uh-aaahh!" The boy gurgled.

Caitlin leaned down and picked up her youngest. She sniffed him a couple of times. "Yep, I know that smell." She laid Andy on the floor and changed his diaper. Lauren scurried across the living room to hold her nose. Caitlin glanced at her daughter and shook her head. "I would have thought you'd been used to this by now." Lauren just shook her head in response.

Having cleaned him up and fitted on a fresh diaper, Caitlin left the living room to dispose of the diaper. Lauren's attentions were taken over by the TV. Andy rolled to his side and crawled to the coffee table. 

Heaving himself on his elbows, Andy looked down at the assortment of crayons in a small carton next to his sister's colouring books. Andy picked up one of the crayons. He was fixated on the various colours. He at once sampled a crayon in his mouth, but then his eyes scanned the opened colouring book on the table. And in the back of his mind, the boy recalled Lauren drawing with the crayons. Andy tried using the crayon on the page, but his tiny fingers awkwardly clasped it and merely rolled it over the book.

Caitlin returned to the living room to see Andy handling a crayon. The young woman calmly stepped over to her son and plucked the crayon out of her his hands. Caitlin then lifted Andy into her arms and took him upstairs for a bath.

\----------------

It was Lauren's birthday. Reed had the day off from work to spend the day with Caitlin and their children. Lauren was dressed as a fairy and was piggy backing her father in the living room. 

Caitlin was preparing the food for the party. Andy, dressed only in a small t-shirt and a bib, squirmed in his highchair near the dinner table. Caitlin took a break from the food preparation to feed her son.

Caitlin lifted the milk bottle to Andy's lips. She smiled warmly as she fed her youngest child. "It won't be long before your birthday," she told him. 

Andy tapped his little hands on the table before him. His bright, innocent eyes gazing at his mother as she spoke. The baby made a gurgling noise behind the rubber tip of the bottle.

Caitlin smiled wanly. "Yeah, I won't make you like Lauren, I promise." 

Andy seemingly smiled at his mother's quip. Caitlin tickled her son's foot, which made him smile more.

Later, the family were at the dinner table. Lauren sat on Reed's knee while Caitlin placed Andy's high chair next to her. Lauren blew out the three candles on her cake. The family had a quiet little party for their firstborn.

"So, did you say something about going to Danny's this weekend?" Reed asked his wife. 

Lauren's eyes lit up. "Uncle Danny?"

Caitlin grinned and pinched the birthday girl's cheek. "Saturday," she replied to Reed. "Mom's in town, so she's visiting him for the week."

"And you still want to meet her after last time?" 

Caitlin sighed. "She hasn't seen the children, Reed."

"But she knows she can come over whenever she wants.."

"No," Caitlin stopped her husband. "Me and Mom, we had some...choice words with each other when we last spoke."

"She hasn't even so much as sent a birthday card in the last few years." Reed muttered.

Caitlin shrugged. "I just want to mend fences with my Mom." 

"Okay, I hope she's mellowed out these last four years."

"You and me both," Caitlin replied with a sad smile. She turned her gaze to Andy, who grasped one of his mother's fingers. "I'll never talk to you guys the way she talked to me."

Lauren, who was eating trifle, took a spoonful and offered it to Andy. Reed saw this and indulgently lifted up his daughter to help her feed her little brother.


End file.
